


The Battle of the Survivors

by SiriusAura92



Series: The Wizarding World War Trilogy [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Life Debt, Multi, Mystery, Politics, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-04-16 17:51:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14170296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SiriusAura92/pseuds/SiriusAura92
Summary: Nine years of peace have passed since the fall of Voldemort but, although their numbers might start off small, Death Eaters Rabastan Lestrange and Edmund Selwyn plot to rebuild to seek revenge against Harry Potter and the new Wizarding World by targeting its very heart; The International Confederation of Wizards.





	1. Prologue

**Prologue  
**  
  
  
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry stood as tall and formidable as it had done for the past thousand years; the aged brown bricks with which it had been built being struck by the fierce Summer sunlight giving the seven story high castle towers an almost heavenly glow around them. Traditionally on a hot and blue-skied day such as today, the majestic castle grounds would be teaming with life and the many classrooms within would be the home of hundreds of students studying to hone their magical abilities. Today however, at least from an outsider’s point of view, the only trace of inhabitants was the single open window of a large and ornately decorated office located within one of the many impressive towers.  
  
Leaving the window wide open in the hope of catching a Summer breeze, the little bald man who paced up and down the office muttered to himself. Aaron Kirke was an elderly gentleman whose long grey moustache stretched to the edges of his wrinkled chin and who currently wore a pair of smart black dress-robes. The pale green eyes that traditionally would have been alert and vigilant during occasions such as these were presently shut tightly in concentration as Aaron muttered and re-muttered his speech.  
  
He was just about to reward himself for getting through it twice in a row without fault with a drink of water when a sharp knock at the door to the Headteacher’s Office stole his concentration.  
  
“Yes,” He called out as he reached over to the desk to grab his drink.  
  
The door creaked open and revealed a tall, slim-figured, green-robed Witch with bunched up grey hair and sharp dark eyes.  
“Minerva,” Aaron greeted. “Come now, you don’t have to knock. This is your office.”  
  
“And I lent it to you to practice your speech, Aaron.” Minerva McGonagall replied with a kind smile. “I hope I didn’t interrupt.”  
  
“Not at all!” Aaron replied brightly. “Just got through it twice without a hiccup. I just hope I can say the same this afternoon.”  
  
Minerva’s eyes narrowed at him impatiently. “Oh Aaron, don’t be such a drama-queen. When have you ever messed up a speech?”  
  
Aaron gave a small chuckle. “I was always jealous of how Albus used to do it, you know.” He said reminiscently. “He always used to just make it up on the spot and nail it every time.” He then turned to face the wall behind the Headmistress’s desk that held the portrait for every Head Hogwarts ever had. The majority of them contained the figure they were dedicating though the one and only frame Aaron looked to was empty. “Trust him to be away when I need his advice.” Aaron tutted.  
  
“In my years as Headmistress, Aaron, I’ve come to learn that Professor Dumbledore is only ever around when you need his advice and never for anything less.” Minerva replied as she too looked fondly towards the empty golden frame. “And seeing how he is nowhere to be found, I feel perfectly confident in telling you that the first of the guests are beginning to arrive.”  
  
Aaron turned to peer out of the open window. Even from the great height at which the office was place, he could see the little black figures crossing the field-like castle grounds. He gave a small sigh. “And the students… I take it they’ll-”  
  
“Yes Aaron, the students will also be attending.” Minerva interrupted testily. “As they will for as long as I am Headmistress at any rate.”  
  
“Yes… Yes, of course.” Aaron replied as he wiped a trickle of sweat away from his brow. “I do apologise, Minerva. It’s just… the subject matter. Everyone here is sensitive about it, I mean how can they not be. Should I get it wrong…”  
  
“Aaron,” Minerva started, as though she were about to explain to one of her pupils why they were getting a detention. “You are the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and a fairly good one too I might add. But never have I been more proud to call you such as when you announced that you would be speaking at this service. You are bringing every eye in the Wizarding World’s attention to today and I can think of nothing wiser.” She then walked over and gripped the little man’s shoulder. “I’m now asking you as a friend to pluck up and give today the justice that it deserves.”  
  
Aaron took a deep, calming breath. “Of course, Minerva.” He said before smiling up at her. “You should probably go and help with the students. I’ll make my way to the grounds shortly.”  
  
The Headmistress bowed her head before leaving her office.  
Aaron stared at the door for a moment before downing the rest of the drink he still held in his hand. Leaving the glass on the desk he then moved his hand towards the dark brown suitcase engraved with his initials that sat right beside it.  
He brushed his hand over the top, feeling the soft, smooth leather, unsure of whether to open it. “No,” He finally said to himself. “No, much too formal for today I think.”  
Giving the briefcase a final pat, Aaron turned on his heel and strode out of the door, still muttering his speech.  
  
The bright green grounds of Hogwarts castle were soon teaming with Wizards and Witches from all walks of life as well as Goblins, the half-horse half-human Centaurs of the surrounding forest, dozens of tiny House-Elfs and a towering Giant. In fact, unless Aaron was very much mistaken, within an hour of him joining the crowd at least three-hundred had shown up for the occasion, and that was before the students arrived. Led by their Headmistress, every single student of the school, from the small and awe-struck eleven and twelve year old first years to the tall and matured seventeen and eighteen year old seventh years.   
  
Aaron couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched Minerva scold a third year for attempting to sneak in Weasley Decoy Detonator. With a second spark of reminiscence, he turned to face the shore of the great lake for merely a few short yards away from them sat a long marble-white tomb.  
He was just about to give in to the urge of walking over to it when he heard a gasp and the clicks and scrambling’s of several journalists and their cameras. Turning, Aaron noticed the cause at once.  
  
A young man, barely yet thirty, with jet black hair and a pair of horn-rimmed glasses over his bright green eyes had just arrived on the scene arm-in-arm with a slender, pale-skinned, red-headed woman. Harry Potter had grown up a lot since his days at Hogwarts. His work with the Dark Wizard catching Aurors had given Harry a much tougher, bulkier look though he could still only ever be described as slim and although his hair still possessed what was now being called  _his trademark mess_ , Aaron and the rest of the Wizarding community had to admit that it suited this older, fitter hero of a man far more than it ever did the gangly, speckled boy.   
  
Aaron wondered whether or not he should seek out a conversation with him. It would inevitably happen, he knew, for the press if nothing else but to stroll over there now on a day such as this seemed tactless in Aaron’s opinion. Leaving Harry Potter to the mercy of his friends, Aaron was about to engage instead with the Minister for Magic when Minerva’s voice rang out across the grounds, magically amplified so that all could hear.  
  
“If you would please take your seats, we will begin the service.”  
  
At once, every single member of the crowd did as they were told and Aaron smiled as he wondered whether they were doing it out of respect or whether they had all learned better then to disobey Minerva McGonagall.  
  
Once every member was seated, Harry Potter left his wife in the company of her brothers and strode up to the podium that stood before them all.  
“Ladies and gentlemen,” He started. “Boys, girls, Goblins, Centaurs, Elves and Giants alike, welcome and thank you. I thank you for being here on the ninth anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts; a tragic and cruel affair that brought the deaths of many friends, family and loved ones.” From the corner of his eye, Aaron noticed Harry’s wife wipe her eyes before having a comforting arm wrapped around her by one of her brothers. “Today, I also want to give thanks to all of those who gave their lives to end the rule of Tom Riddle and his followers, but not alone. Joining us this year in our remembrance, I’m honoured to announce, is the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Aaron Kirke.”  
  
Aaron’s eyes widened somewhat at his introduction as he stood to a round of applause. It was fairly well known that Harry Potter had never been one for long speeches and it seemed that, like Aaron, Harry would want to spend as little time as necessary talking about today as he could.  
  
Taking his place at the podium, Aaron looked out towards the crowd, his heart sinking but his mouth opening nonetheless.  
“My magical brethren, nine years ago this day, the Wizard styling himself as Lord Voldemort and his followers declared an attack on this school and those who dared to defy them and their cruel ways. Outnumbered, disadvantaged and for all intents and purposes outmatched, those within stood strong nevertheless and fought. In the end, the defenders of Hogwarts, many of them here with us today, saw triumph and the end of Lord Voldemort’s tyranny. Now while many believe this story to be one of grief and pain and loss, and they would be right in some regard, I see it as a story worth retelling to any who would listen and even to those who don’t,” He added, earning a number of chuckles from the crowd. “But above all, I see it as a story of unity. For you see even though those who fought against the Death Eater invasion were outclassed, they stood together in the face of evil; they stood together in the face of a far more powerful enemy and together they won. It is a moral that I have been injecting into the Confederation since my installation as Supreme Mugwump that standing together means victory even in the face of defeat.” Aaron saw a number of nodding heads and even noticed Minerva smiling encouragingly from the front row.   
A flow of new-found confidence spreading warmly through him like a hot drink on a cold day, he continued “After the downfall of Tom Riddle and his Death Eaters, the Wizarding World was forced to take a good look at itself and make a firm decision on where it should stand on certain matters that led to the Dark Lord’s rise in the first place and I feel confident to stand before you all today and say that I am proud of where we find ourselves. The laws that once disabled Muggle-borns are day by day being rewritten if not erased, Ministries across the globe have never before formed stronger relationships with their Muggle counterparts and our crackdown on those who oppose such progression with lethal force, those who use Dark Magic in the face of hope and unity, has reached ground-breaking heights worldwide. For nine years now the British Ministry of Magic has been at the forefront of anti-Dark Wizard enforcement but together, united by the Confederation of Wizards, Ministries have achieved great things and I assure you, in honour of the fallen fifty who gave their lives nine years ago today, they are set to take them further so that they may protect with all of their strength.”   
  
Over an hour later, the throng rose from their seats and began making their way to the nearly mile long table of food and drink. From what Aaron was overhearing as he joined the mingling, his speech had gone down well amongst the other speeches, the retellings of that night’s events from various fighters and Harry Potter’s annual reading of the list of names of the fallen fifty.  
  
“Albus would be proud.” Minerva said as she offered him a tall glass of wine.  
  
“Thank you,” He said as he took the offering. “It was a beautiful service all round, I think, truly beautiful.”  
  
“I hope that’s a confirmation of your visiting us next year, Aaron.” Minerva said as she drank.  
  
“Oh, of course,” Aaron replied jovially. “Of course. Though maybe from a just a spectator’s standpoint.” And he lifted his left hand to reveal it shaking of nerves.  
One of Minerva’s eyebrows raised strictly though Aaron could tell she was fighting a grin.  
  
“Ah, Professor!” Cried a voice from the crowd and the pair turned to see Harry Potter waving for McGonagall’s attention as he approached.  
  
“Potter! Well done today.” She proclaimed once he reached them.  
  
“Thanks, but I have to say public speaking never does get easier.”  
  
“Oh nonsense! You did splendidly and were a true inspiration up there.” Minerva said in a tetchy tone that nearly made Aaron snort up his wine.  
  
“She’s right, my boy.” Aaron coughed. “You did marvellously.”   
  
“Thank you,” Harry replied offering a hand. As expected, the moment their hands clasped around one another, there were flashes of light all around them as journalists clamoured for a good shot of the Supreme Mugwump and the Chosen One who had vanquished the Dark Lord all those years ago. “And thank you again for speaking today, sir, I can’t tell you how much it means to all of us.”  
  
“Oh don’t  _sir_  me.” Aaron said with a wave of his hand. “You’re not on bodyguard duty today and please don’t worry about thanking me either. Although,” He added as he looked around curiously. “Word has reached me that you’ve taken on a young Auror protégé. A girl by the name of Naomi, I believe. I’d love to meet the trainee of the reason we’re all still alive today if she’s around.”  
  
“I’m afraid she’s not.” Harry said with a small smile as the crowd around them tucked in to the food provided for them as they all mingled with one another as they had done after the Battle of Hogwarts had been won. “She’s out on an assignment but I can assure you that you won’t be disappointed when you meet her. There’s a reason she’s one of only two we’ve taken on in the last few years.”   
  
  
***************************  
  
The late evening backdrop was adding a bright orange glow to the otherwise grey side-street scene. With the surrounding decrepit buildings blazing with the added colour one was almost certain to miss the outline of the two figures camouflaged into the background. For at least half an hour the pair stood sentinel, waiting, until a loud  _crack_  reverberated through the area and a short, broad man with long brown hair and pale grey eyes appeared from thin air onto the scene.  
Striding down the street as though he had merely walked round the corner, the man headed towards a particularly rough looking building that had the majority of its windows either boarded up or missing entirely.  
  
“Target spotted.” Naomi Pryce muttered quietly into her robes, the picture on her Auror ID card sliding out of frame as it carried her message to her fellows.  
By Naomi’s lead, the pair moved from their hiding spot and followed the man as he walked up to the entrance of the building.  
  
From within the dark, cloaked robes that he wore, he drew out a long, thin wand before pointing it at the weathered looking wooden board that stood where a door once did. After giving the wood a sharp tap, the man lowered his wand and walked through the board as though it wasn’t there at all.  
  
“Lost visual but can confirm location.” Naomi muttered again.  
  
“What do you think?” Her still near-invisible companion asked as she brushed the board with the tips of her fingers. “An Anti-Intruder Concealment Charm or…” And with one fluid motion, Naomi’s partner drew her own wand and tapped the wooden barrier lightly in its corner. At once the board turned to a thin silvery smoke that dissolved into the air almost at once. “Yep, a Copy-Cat Concealer Charm.” She said knowingly as she indicated the opposite building that shared the exact same boarded up entrance. “It’s all about perception, see?”  
  
“Always the show off, Emily,” Naomi sniggered with a small smile. “Or we could’ve just gone through the large empty window pane right next to the entrance, Miss Perception.”  
  
Emily stared at the hole mere feet away before turning back towards the main entrance, tutting. “No sense of style whatsoever.” She waved her wand over herself and deactivated the Disillusionment Charm that concealed her to reveal the long blond hair, the pale and lightly freckled skin and the slim, sharp figure.  
  
Naomi gave a quiet snort of laughter as she did the same. “Then if you wouldn’t mind putting up an Anti-Disapparition Jinx as stylishly as possible, I’d love to take note.” Although Naomi was shorter than her fellow Junior Ranked Auror, Naomi was also curvier with ebony skin and straight dark hair that curved around her rounded face.   
  
Once they were sure Emily’s jinx forbade anyone in the area from vanishing into thin air, the two young Witches entered the building, their wands raised and ready.   
The dark and dusty interior of the building only helped their search as the man had clearly lit up his meeting for light spewed from around one of the bare-walled corners.  
  
“About to engage.” Naomi whispered to her ID card as the pair silently approached the light.  
  
“And these are genuine, are they?” They heard the man ask in a smoothly calm voice.  
  
“Fresh in straight from the caves of the Western Cape.” Replied a deep, hoarse voice. “You’ll struggle to find purer I’ll tell ya.”  
  
“Is that so?” Emily asked as she and Naomi appeared around the corner, their Auror IDs in one hand and their wands ready in the other. “Maybe you could give us a little more detail on how you brought them in, Mr Fryloin?”  
  
“With your hands in the air of course.” Naomi added with a grin of her own. The seller, Mr Fryloin, was a weedy, grey looking man who appeared far less confident with the situation, Naomi noticed, than his buyer who merely stared stiffly at the two Auror with a pair of wide grey eyes. The only thing separating the pair was a small wooden table adorned with what looked like a wide variety of crystals and gems and a hovering ball of bright light above them.  
  
Fryloin raised his hands to head height submissively as his eyes darted between the pair.  
“Excuse me but that means you as well Mr buyer of illegally imported magical objects,” Emily ordered, noticing the man’s lack of cooperation. “I’m sure the Law Enforcer’s will have plenty of room to question the pair of you.”  
  
The man continued to look between the pair of them with a calculating stare before turning his gaze to his would-be dealer. Slowly he began to raise his hands in surrender.  
  
It was quicker than Naomi would have imagined.  
The moment the man’s hands had reached shoulder height, he flicked the wrist of his right hand and a wand slid from sleeve and into the clutches of his palm.   
“ _Avada Kedavra_!” The man screamed and Fryloin was struck in the chest with a jet of green light that left him to fall limply to the ground, dead.  
  
Both Naomi and Emily, though bewildered by the event, shouted out their own incantations but not before the killer had slashed his wand at the table and caused it flip in front of him in order to shield him from the attacks.  
Crystals of all shapes and colour scattered to the floor as the Auror’s spells sent splintered chunks flying off of the table revealing just enough of the man to see him aim his wand at the wooden floorboards beneath him. There was a loud  _crash_  and the man vanished through a hole and to the underground floor beneath.  
  
“What the bloody hell was that about?” Emily cried as she ran to Fryloin’s corps.   
  
“One way to find out!” Naomi replied as she darted towards the hole in the floor. “Contact the Office and let’s go!”   
  
“Naomi, wait!” Emily spluttered but waiting was the last thing Naomi did as she jumped down the hole.   
Landing on her feet, Naomi immediately spotted the man running up a flight of stairs and pointing his wand at the steel bulkhead doors that would lead to the street. Naomi wasted no time in running after him as she aimed her wand and fired a Stunning Spell that just missed but instead collided with the wall to leave a small crater.  
  
The was a loud  _bang_  and a flash of white light as the bulkhead doors were blasted open to allow golden evening sunlight to pour in. The man had made it to the street now but Naomi was close behind him, already half way up the stairs.   
She ran through the opening and turned left to continue her chase. Looking over his shoulder, the man spotted his pursuer and quickly spun round to fire his second Killing Curse at her.  
  
Naomi jumped sideways out of the way before sending a hex of her own back in retaliation but the man had already ducked into an ally and out of sight. Eager to catch up with the killer, Naomi ran as fast as she could around the corner in time to see the man running up the fire escape of another abandoned building.  
The two continued to fire spells at one another as they both climbed the metal staircase though neither could land a direct hit but instead dented the railings and steps with their stray spells.  
  
Naomi could feel her legs burning as she forced them to climb faster, the man now reaching the final flight that lead to the rooftop.   
He was just about to set foot onto the roof, when he spun around and slashed his wand at one of the stair’s railings. At once it broke apart from the rest of the structure like a rising serpent and stretched outwards before taking a swing at Naomi.  
  
“ _Reducto_!” Naomi cried as she took careful aim at the slim target. There was a flash of white light and the snake-like railing recoiled backwards allowing Naomi to continue her pursuit. Again and again Naomi had to repel the attacking strand of metal before she finally reached the rooftop herself.  
She leapt off the staircase in time to see the man running towards the edge of the roof, clearly preparing to leap to the next one and get away from both his Auror pursuers and their Anti-Disapparition Jinx.  
  
“ _Preoccupo_!” Naomi said breathlessly as she aimed her wand just as the man had made a jump for the neighbouring building. A barely visible barrier sprang from nowhere in the way of the man before he realised it and Naomi watched satisfactorily as he rebounded off the enchanted barrier and land on his back to the ground.  
  
“Wand on the ground and hands in the air!” Naomi ordered as she advanced, her own wand at the ready, but it was clear Fryoin’s killer wasn’t going down without a fight.  
He rolled back to his feet, evading Naomi’s hex, and hid behind the structure of the rooftop’s door to the main building.  
Fearing a plan to escape, Naomi locked the rooftop door with a flick of her wand before she began advancing like a lioness would their prey.  
  
“Leave now and I won’t kill you!” He shouted from behind the concreate frame.  
  
“That’s one hell of a promise from a killer!” Naomi retorted as she fired a streak of red light at the corner she had seen a strand of long brown hair peek out from though all this merely accomplished was her target’s flinching away from the resulting impact of spell on concreate. “And I’m not the one who’s hiding!”  
  
“Oh young one,” He laughed as though Naomi were a student who had gotten an easy question wrong. “Didn’t they teach you that it’s the enemies you can’t see that you should fear?”  
  
Naomi was about to respond when she felt something cold and hard wrap itself around her ankle. She knew her mistake at once though this didn’t help her stop the enchanted stair railing from pulling her foot from under her and flinging her helpless body into the knee-high brick wall that surrounded the rooftop. Winded from the slam to her back, Naomi felt her wand fall from her weakened grip and she could feel her body’s incapability to reach out for it.  
  
“I warned you,” The man said smugly as he strode towards her, his wand pointed at her chest. “And now because of your cockiness, I get to experience what it is like to kill an Auror.”  
  
Adrenalin the only thing powering her, Naomi stretched out her arms in an attempt to reach her wand but the man had already raised his own and a flash of bright white light illuminated the darkening scene.  
  
As though he were a ragdoll, the man was sent flying over the top of Naomi and off the side of the roof.  
Emily stood right behind where the man once stood. Though her face was contorted, her wand shook slightly in hand.  
  
“ _Relashio_ ,” She said hurriedly after aiming for the metal coil around Naomi’s ankle. There was a flash of purple light and the steel bind shattered. “You okay?” Emily asked as Naomi rubbed the now free area.  
  
“I don’t think it’s broken.” She said tentatively. “Thank you. Really, thank you. Is he..?” Naomi gestured over the wall where the man had flown over. Together the pair peered over the edge to see a crumpled body lying in an ever growing pool of red.  
  
“Shit.” Emily said in a shaking voice. “There goes our chance to finding out what he was up to.”  
  
“I’m sorry.” Naomi said. “I’m so, so sorry.”  
  
“Don’t be.” Emily said kindly. “If you hadn’t given chase this killing piece of shit would be on the run right now doing who knows what.”  
  
“Yes, but I know that… That you hadn’t… Before…” Naomi struggled but Emily shook her head.  
  
“It’s not your fault and… in our line of work I guess we have to do it at some point.” Emily then placed a hand on Naomi’s shoulder. “And anyway, better him than you.” Naomi patted the still shaking hand gratefully. “Now, don’t move that leg. Dawlish is at Fryloin’s body now so I’ll get him to come to us.”


	2. 1-The Circle Renewed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Rabastan Lestrange agreeing to meet, Edmund Selwyn attempts to convince his old comrade that their fight is far from over.

** 1-The Circle Renewed **

 

 

 

 

  
  
The Summer’s night air was humid and unpleasant as a large hooded figure limped towards an old unkempt bungalow in the middle of the narrow lane that was Harlow Street. As the man drew closer, a pair of teenage girls dressed in revealing, brightly coloured Muggle clothes walking in the opposite direction caught sight of the elderly, scarred face from under the hood of his black cloak. As the man passed them, he heard them giggle drunkenly to each other and the urge to draw his wand and put an end to their sniggering was so strong he had to ball his hand into a fist to stop it twitching towards his pocket.  
  
He had just reached the foot of the door when a familiarly snide voice called to him. “Long time, no see, Rabastan. It's nice to know you did in fact get my message.” Rabastan Lestrange turned and saw the hooded figure who he knew by the voice was his old companion, Edmund Selwyn, step from out of the house’s shadow.  
  
He was much shorter than Rabastan was, just about reaching the large man’s shoulders, and, as he lowered his hood, Rabastan saw the tangled shoulder length brown hair and the pale round face that still possessed the smug look of someone that was in on a particularly nasty secret; his dark eyes twinkling.   
  
“Are they here?” Rabastan asked him in a rough growl of a voice.   
  
“Of course.” Selwyn replied.   
  
“How many?” Rabastan pressed quickly as he advanced on his smaller companion.  
  
“Seven, though there are eight of them in total.”  
  
“Not exactly an army is it?" Rabastan retorted coldly. "The way your message put it, it sounded like you had replaced the entire inner circle.”  
  
“You underestimate their abilities, I assure you. But once word spreads around that we are planning a return, I have… confidence that others shall join our cause.” Selwyn said, adding a smile to the pause. He sounded very pleased with himself.  
  
“You are deluded, Selwyn. Even now, after nine years, the Ministry is obsessed with catching  _all_  of us and you want to try and rebuild with an attendance of seven? Do you know what I have been through? What I have done to survive and escape? Even fleeing the country is damn near impossible with-!”   
  
“Hush!” Interrupted Selwyn. He was looking sideways across the street at an elderly couple who were watching them cautiously as they slowly walked home.  
  
“Bloody Muggles.” Rabastan growled. “Why did you pick this place to meet anyway?”   
  
“It is a Muggle town with a Wizarding family living just a few doors down to take the blame for when we do use magic.” Selwyn explained. “Now if you’re done ranting and questioning me, you will enter.” Selwyn grabbed the doorknob. The moment he touched it, it glowed a bright green briefly before opening.  
  
The entire house was dark apart from a slither of brightest blue light appearing from the crack of a door opposite them.   
Selwyn walked briskly ahead of Rabastan and indicated him to go through the glowing door. He did so and before Rabastan could even see clearly from the brightness of the ball of light hovering over the table, seven people rose and pointed their wands at them.   
Rabastan went to draw his own wand but Selwyn held out an arm to halt him. A muscular, dark haired man with rough stubble all around his tough, chiselled face approached them slowly.  
“Who made your wand?” He asked Selwyn threateningly though it was Rabastan who was catching most of his attention.   
  
“It was the girl who stands behind you. The brilliant Felicia, apprentice to a Welsh wand maker who...” Selwyn smiled to himself for a moment. “...mysteriously died a year ago.” They all lowered their wands and Felicia and a young blond boy sat back down.   
  
“So,” Said the dark haired wizard. “This is the legendary Lestrange brother?” He bowed and continued “It is a pleasure, Rabastan.”   
  
Selwyn smiled and said “Rabastan, this is Mosby Elfrin. He was a Wizarding Law Enforcer who worked for us during the last war and continued to do so during the reign of the Dark Lord.” Mosby straightened back up and moved so Rabastan could see the others. “This is Cecilia Lox.” He indicated a tall, thin Witch with straight, shoulder length brown hair and an expressionless, stony face that eyed Rabastan cautiously.   
“Her mother was Catriona Lox and young Cecilia joined us after her mother was wrongly imprisoned in Azkaban for murder. She ended up starving herself to death five months later.” Although her expression did not change, her face seemed to harden at the mention of her mother. Selwyn always had a way with making the most tragic of news sound casual.   
  
“That is John Nolan.” He continued, pointing to a slim man with untidy dark-red hair next to Cecilia who, though had lowered his wand, had not put it away. “A natural Muggle-hating wizard with a gift for handy little charms like that Entrance Identification Charm you saw just now.” John nodded at him.   
  
“These are Cade and Morgana Bowton, a brother-sister duo even you’d have trouble messing with.” And two bulky look-a-likes who shared the same short brown hair and round chubby face, that almost made them look comical, also nodded at him with a sinister grin.  
  
“This is Felicia Hamnet, whose story you’ve already heard.” Felicia gave a giggle as she stroked her wand with her index finger. She was an attractive pale skinned Witch, slim with vivid cheekbones, bright blue eyes and bleach blond hair that curled down her seductive face.   
  
Selwyn then pointed to the young blond boy, who seemed to look the best kept of the group. “And this is-”   
  
“Bailey, Bailey Miller.” Interrupted the boy who looked at Rabastan as though he was part of a joke.   
“And you’re supposed to be part of the notorious Lestrange family? You look like one good hex would finish you off.” Bailey looked around grinning to his peers, pleased with himself at his insult at Rabastan.   
  
“Would you like to be the one who tries to cast that hex, boy? Because I can assure you, I will make it do more damage to you then to me.” Bailey looked as though he had just been horribly insulted.   
  
Selwyn laughed. “Fresh out of Hogwarts.” He said. “And a dead ringer for Yaxley, don’t you think?”   
Rabastan looked at him then back to the small group before saying “So, this is the rebellion you were talking about? And what about this eighth member?”  
  
“Ah,” Started Selwyn. “I’m afraid our Ministry mole can’t be with us tonight, but you will meet her in time no doubt!"   
  
“If they survive that is." Rabastan snarled. "Can you prove them to me at all? Can you give me proof that I should trust these...?” He paused, unable to find the right word. “People?” Selwyn laughed, a little harder than he had done all night and some of the others smiled and smirked with him.   
  
“Actually,” He said, still smiling. “I can. For you see they have gone out and successfully got you a welcoming present. Mosby, why don’t you bring him down?” Mosby obeyed and left the room.   
  
A few silent minutes later, he returned using his wand to levitate a thin, shivering body with a sack covering the figure’s head. Mosby removed the charm and the man fell to the floor with a thud.   
  
“Rabastan, we have here the biggest Death Eater traitor since Igor Karkaroff. A man who, after the Battle of Hogwarts, took side with the Ministry and gave up the names and locations of everyone on our side. Despite this, because of the Ministry’s watch on him he was a tricky one to capture.” Rabastan looked down at the quivering figure before removing the sack. Staring back at him, was the pale cowering face of Lucius Malfoy.   
  
“YOU!” Shouted Rabastan and he grabbed Lucius by the neck, pinned him against the wall and pointed his wand directly between his pale grey eyes, Lucius’ long blond hair flying everywhere as he did so.   
  
“Will you kill him now?" Selwyn said, smirking. "Or would you like to use him for target practice for our more unpleasant curses?"   
  
“Neither.” Growled Rabastan, a crazed look glistening in his dark eyes. “I’m going to make him beg for death.” And he threw Lucius across the room and, as the captive crashed into the wall opposite, Rabastan pointed his wand and shouted “ _CRUCIO_!” There was a wail of pain from Lucius and he slumped to the floor, not moving.   
  
“Well, now that we’ve got that out of the way,” Selwyn said casually. “I would like for you to look over and review our first move, Rabastan.” Rabastan still had his wand pointed at Malfoy. His mad eyes flickered from Lucius to Selwyn and back again before he lowered his wand and turned his full attention to Selwyn. He snatched the large rolled up piece of parchment that Selwyn had handed to him, unrolled it and examined it carefully. Minutes later, Rabastan’s entire expression had changed as his head rose from behind the parchment and he asked very seriously "These names, are they-"   
  
"Most of them." Selwyn answered, his grin bigger than ever. "We are still working on releasing and contacting some of the others but I have spent the last two years networking across the globe and I know for a fact that they are just as desperate as we are." Rabastan looked back down at the plans, breathing heavily.   
“The International Confederation of Wizards has spent every day since the last war trying to supress our kind and destroy us. It’s made them all desperate and I mean to use that to our advantage.”   
  
Rabastan chuckled as he read the parchment. “You know, I heard that a Wizard had been put down by two Aurors a few months back after he killed the illegal gem salesman he was reportedly buying from in the first place. I suppose it’s not just convenience that you-”  
  
“Carwall’s death was a heavy blow, I won’t lie to you.” Selwyn interrupted though he sounded as though he was telling Rabastan of his dead follower begrudgingly. “But his actions and sacrifice has kept our plans hidden from the Ministry.”  
  
“You know this for a fact?”  
  
“My mole is very well placed.” Selwyn’s bright smile returned.  
  
Rabastan gave a mirthless snigger. “Well placed for getting themselves killed. You’re wasting your time, all of you!” He called out to the entire room. “Even if your dream of a plan comes together… the war that will follow-”  
  
“Lestrange!” Mosby cut him off impatiently. Clearly the respectful façade he had held until now had worn thin. “This plan is moving forward with or without you. The  _only_  reason you are here is because Selwyn believes you would be a valuable ally. Well here’s some news for you, we’re all in the same boat,” He said in a scathing whisper. “We’ve all been evading Enforcers and Aurors, we’ve all been living rough, the difference is that we’ve been working towards something and we have done so so far without your help and will continue to do so if need be.”  
  
The old Death Eater squared up to Mosby, his hand twitching once again to draw out his wand while his other hand crumpled the parchment up in anger. “Oh I don’t doubt you’ll continue,” He said in a low, threatening voice. “I doubt whether you’ll survive.” He then moved his free, still twitching hand and drew up the sleeve of his left arm. He had moved so quickly it was clear some of the others thought he was about to attack Mosby. John and the twins had all begun to raise their wands while Bailey had leapt from his chair, clearly ready to prove Rabastan’s earlier comments wrong.  
Mosby, however, barely flinched as Rabastan showed him the scar depicting a snake coiling out of an open-mouthed skull. “You see this, boy? The Dark Lord himself graced me with this. It is a symbol that I was among his most loyal, his inner circle, so I’d believe Selwyn when he says you need such people on your side in order to make it through in this world.”  
  
Mosby was looking down at what had once been the Dark Mark and Rabastan saw at once the flicker of envy on his face before looking back. “So that means you’re joining us then?” He asked, the old calm demeanour returning a little too unnaturally.  
  
Rabastan stared into the cold dark eyes before turning back to Selwyn who was grinning proudly.   
“Alright, it appears you may have a capable team on your hands.”  
  
“Not a day goes by where they don’t remind me of the old days, my old friend.” Selwyn replied.  
  
For the first time, Rabastan cracked a small smirk as the two caught each other’s eye. Eventually, Rabastan flattened out the crumpled up plan and began scanning it once again. “According to this,” Rabastan said after a moment of silent reading. “You need to be ready by next week, do you really believe we will be ready for then? This assassination attempt... this could mean the end before we've even begun.”   
  
“Oh, on the contrary,” Selwyn said turning to his allies, the bright blue ball of light still illuminating their determined faces. “This is just the beginning.”


	3. 2 - Home, Work and Kidnap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As well as a day of meetings and security details, Harry Potter is also confronted by a disgruntled Draco Malfoy in his office.

** 2-Home, Work and Kidnap  **

 

  
Harry Potter awoke with a start to the loud crying of a baby. His one-year old son, Albus Severus, was hungry or needed changing or whatever else it was that babies cried about. He felt his wife, Ginny, getting up from the bed to tend to the baby and yet he felt even more tired than he had done when he went to sleep.  
  
His eyes still closed, he tried to think of why that was. The answer then sank unpleasantly into his mind. The night-time raid on a Dark Artefacts dealer that had taken place the previous evening had taken a lot longer then he and the Auror Office had originally intended. Everything from illegally made wands to stolen cursed relics had been found within the man’s basement… after the dealer and his companions had attempted to fight back of course.  
  
Mercifully, The Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shaklebolt, had given Harry permission to have the morning off before meeting with the Department for Magical Games and Sport about the final security details for tomorrow's Quidditch Final.  
  
Harry lay in bed, half asleep, listening to the sound of Ginny singing to baby Albus. He wondered if all mothers naturally came with the gift of a beautiful voice or whether he had just gotten lucky to marry a woman of many talents.   
He heard her stop and go downstairs, probably to feed Albus, and began to ponder if he should go down after her. But at that thought he suddenly found himself more comfortable than ever before in the plump, king sized double bed and fell back to sleep.   
  
What felt like mere seconds later he awoke to “Kreacher is sorry, Master Potter, but Kreacher must obey Mistress Potter’s orders.” And sheer cold was splashed across Harry’s face and he fell out of bed with shock. He looked up, brushed the damp jet-black hair out of his face and saw his elderly House Elf, Kreacher; barely a foot tall with sagging brown skin around his thin figure and large leaf-shaped ears and currently standing on Harry’s now soaked bed holding an empty vase. “Master Potter must get up and come for breakfast now or he’ll be late.” The Elf commanded in a cracked, elderly voice.  
  
After fumbling with his horn-rimmed glasses, Harry looked at the clock beside his bed and saw that it was already eleven o’clock. Getting to his feet, he said to Kreacher “Tell Ginny I’ll be down shortly.” The House Elf bowed, clicked his fingers to dry the bed and Disapparated downstairs.  
  
Harry looked at his sopping wet reflection on the wall mirror before drying himself with a wave of his wand. His jet black hair returned to the messy state it had grown accustomed to and the water covering his pale white face vanished too.   
  
After getting washed and dressed, he started making sure he had everything and picked up his fist-sized Mokeskin pouch. The little brown pouch, whose powers forbad anyone but the owner from taking anything out, had been made much bigger on the inside thanks to a well-practiced Undetectable Extension Charm by Hermione Weasley several years previously and Harry was grateful for the space. He checked inside to see a small pile of Galleons; among which was the fake Galleon he and the other members of the organization, Dumbledore’s Army, kept on them. A Sneakoscope; a colourful spinning top which activated and span around whenever someone untrustworthy was around and a small Two-Way Mirror; repaired from a small shard of glass and whose twin now belonged to his best friend and fellow Auror, Ron Weasley. Harry checked his robes and found his father's old Invisibility Cloak stowed away in one inside pocket and his wand in the other.   
  
Satisfied that he had everything, he hung the Mokeskin around his neck and went downstairs, hoping some breakfast might help wake him up.   
He saw Ginny preparing the breakfast and his two sons sitting at the table. “Next time, can you just set the alarm?” He said as he kissed Ginny.   
  
“Now where’s the fun it that?” She teased back with a smile, her long ginger hair shinning in the morning Summer sun as it dangled around her shoulders and her bright brown eyes twinkling.  
As he sat down, she placed a plate of bacon and eggs in front of him and sliced up pieces of buttered toast in front of his two-year-old son, James.   
  
“Good Morning, James.” He said to his son who had his mouth full of a piece of toast though replied with a bulging smile all the same. Harry wolfed down his breakfast and ordered Kreacher to bring down the jar of Floo powder.   
  
“What are the odds that Ron’s only just woken up?” Ginny asked, looking at the clock which now said quarter to twelve.   
  
“Impossible. Do you really think Hermione would let him over sleep, night-time raid or no?” Harry said, laughing.   
  
Ginny smiled before continuing “Oh, and remember to try and be home on time tonight. Mum and Dad are coming for dinner and I don’t want to wait up for you... again.”   
  
“It’s a cruel and dangerous world out there, Ginny.” Harry said teasingly as he downed the rest of his coffee. “Who can really say what kind of dark force may keep me busy today.”  
  
“I have a pretty good idea if you’re late again.” Ginny replied flatly, clearly trying to hold in a grin.  
  
Harry smiled at her, took the Floo powder from his House-Elf, said goodbye to his family, stepped into the fire place and said “Ministry of Magic Atrium!” There was a flash of green flame as Harry threw the ash-like powder into the fire place and before he knew it, he was in the familiar hustle-and-bustle that was the large emerald coloured Atrium of the Ministry of Magic.   
  
As he stepped out of the long, tunnel-like hall, that was surrounded by countless fireplaces such as the one Harry had stepped out of, and into the main hall of the Atrium, he began his way to the Auror Office on the third floor replying to the occasional “Good morning, Mr Potter” or “Morning, Harry.”   
Eventually, he made it to the wide cubical-filled office, its cream coloured walls covered in mug shots, wanted posters and maps that had been filled with the previous known locations of certain Dark Wizards and its air-space filled with aeroplane-shaped notes and reports gliding to their destinations from other Departments or outside confidents.   
  
At once Harry spotted his best friend, Ron Weasley, deep in conversation with the Head of the Auror Office, Albert Kaman.   
Albert was a tall, well-built Wizard whose hair was losing its once light-brown colour and whose square face was also showing signs of his late age. However, his dark-brown eyes still gave off the strength and the 'ready for anything' look that someone a quarter of his age would be jealous of. Ron on the other hand had barely changed at all since Hogwarts, in Harry’s opinion, with the exception of being slightly taller and lankier with more confidence in his once slouchy posture.   
“Morning guys.” Harry said to the two of them.   
  
“Ah, Harry.” Said Albert in a bright, loud voice. “I was just talking to Ron about tomorrow’s match and who he’s supporting. His sister or his team?” Albert gave a bark of laughter as he slapped Ron across the shoulder. Ron looked slightly sulky.   
  
“Of all the teams, in all the world, Ginny had to join the Holyhead Harpies.” Harry knew for a fact that ever since Ginny joined the Holyhead Harpies four years ago, Ron’s precious team, the Chudley Cannons, hadn’t won a match against them and now that they had finally made it to the finals, Chudley Cannon fans everywhere were not getting their hopes up.  
  
“Hey, Harry!” Harry turned to see his Auror protégé Naomi Pryce smirking up at him cheekily. “I just passed Terry Hetlim in the corridor and he told me that he’s ready to meet when you are.” Ron groaned and Harry patted him on the shoulder.   
  
“It’s just one bad thing after another this week, isn’t it?”  
  
“Come on, Ron.” Harry said, smiling.   
  
“But he’s so boring. He’s got no sense of humour and he constantly smells of Doxy droppings. Who thought it was a good idea to make that stuffy old snooze Head of Magical Games and Sports anyway? It wouldn’t surprise me if the rumours of Kingsley losing a bet are true.” Harry laughed and he, Ron and Albert started their way to Hetlim’s office.   
  
“Oh, Naomi,” Harry said as he walked out and Naomi caught up and walked beside him. “When you next see Emily, let her know that you two will be helping the Law Enforcers on Muggle patrol tomorrow.” Naomi looked downtrodden and somewhat annoyed.   
  
“Bloody Enforcers, really?” She grumbled. “Do we have to work with them? Especially after-”  
  
“I’ve told you, Naomi,” Harry cut across. “That was no one’s fault. It wasn’t yours, Emily’s  _or_  the Law Enforcers. They were just as perplexed by that buyer as you were.”  
This still didn’t seem to cheer Naomi up. “Look, I know you were hoping for a stadium position but there are none left, I don’t even know why you’d want a position like that anyway? You’d only be dealing with the drunkards afterwards.”   
  
“And the massive game of Quidditch going on in the middle of the arena?”   
  
Harry smirked. “Very funny but an order’s an order. I’ll see you later.” And Harry, Ron and Albert left the Department for the office on the fourth floor.  
  
The meeting took much longer than Harry expected and after two hours of Ron secretly mocking Hetlim by taking a deep breath and holding his nose when he got near Ron or giving him a rude gesture when he was getting a file from a cabinet, they finally left the office trying to hold in fits of laughter. When they got back to their department, Harry found John Dawlish, the bulking, wiry haired Deputy Head of the Auror Office, leaving Harry’s office looking rather flustered.   
“Dawlish?”   
  
“Ah, Harry, there you are. I’m afraid Draco Malfoy is in your office and is refusing to leave until he sees you. He says it’s urgent.”   
Harry thanked Dawlish, went into his personal office and, sure enough, was welcomed with the sight of Draco, his blond hair line already receding despite being the same age as Harry and his skin had taken on a slightly more tanned look than the usual pale white. The last time Harry had seen his old school-time nemesis was at a Ministry Charity Fund Raiser over a year ago and remembered that his wife, Astoria Malfoy, had been pregnant around the same time Ginny was with Albus.   
  
“Draco,” Harry said pleasantly. “And what can I do for you?”  
  
“It’s my father.” Draco said curtly. “I was wandering whether the Ministry had taken him in for more questioning?” Harry looked puzzled. If the Ministry had taken Lucius Malfoy for questioning surely someone in the Auror Office would know and would have told him by now. “As I’m sure you know," Draco said bitterly, though not enough to sound rude. "We’ve been on holiday for the past week but my father couldn’t come with us. But when we got back early this morning we couldn’t find him.” Malfoy saw the puzzled look on Harry’s face and his own expression changed to one of worry.   
  
“Come with me.” Harry said sternly getting up from his chair and leaving his office with Draco behind him.  
He walked quickly, his mind racing just as fast. Surely, if something had happened, they’d know by now.   
  
Finally, they reached a door which had ‘Auror Office – Tracker Division’ written in gold slanting letters on a handsome silver plaque. They went through it and entered a small office space that though was barely bigger than Harry’s own office had a ceiling that reached at least a mile high and was full of nothing but shelves that had been crammed with spherical glass orbs. Amongst the half a dozen Wizards and Witches that inhabited the space Harry saw the person he was looking for instantly.   
Seamus Finnigan was sitting at a desk, rotund but focussed, taking notes with over two dozen crystal ball like objects on his desk which Harry knew to be Glass Viewers; a recent magical invention that was used to watch over certain places through the Glass Viewer orb at the other end.   
  
“Seamus,” Harry called out formally. “What’s the position of Lucius Malfoy?”   
  
"Hello to you too." Seamus replied though when he caught Harry's eye he soon realised the urgency and said “Malfoy? I hadn’t even thought he’d left his manor. We’ve had no triggered alarms, hang on.” And he pulled, from a dusty shelf close by, a slightly bigger Glass Viewer compared to the others, pointed his wand at it and said “Lucius Malfoy.”  
At once the image of Lucius appeared lying on his bed. “There he is. Looks like he’s just finished lunch.” Harry turned to Draco who looked genuinely shocked.   
  
“I swear, we couldn’t find him anywhere. How long has he been there?” Draco spluttered.  
  
Seamus once again pointed his wand at the ball and murmured “ _Ostendo Statua_.” And the figure of Malfoy started to move backwards. They saw him eat his lunch in reverse, they saw the family House Elf bring in the lunch and walk backwards again and it kept going until they saw Draco walk in then quickly walk back out again. “By the looks of this he’s been in there all day, and you saw him.” Seamus added with a small hint of an accusing tone.  
  
“What! No, I haven’t... I...” He began to look scared now looking between Harry, Seamus and the glass ball.

Harry had seen Malfoy lie many times in the past and it was obvious to him that this wasn’t one of them.   
  
“Okay, Draco.” Harry said calmly, though he felt uneasy. If Draco didn’t know where his father was and the Ministry apparently didn’t know where he was, then either Lucius had somehow fooled all of the Ministry resources that were being used on him or...

“Take me back to the Manor, I’ll see what’s what when I get there and search it.”   
  
“Are you sure about this, Harry?” Seamus asked with a suspicious glance at Draco.  
  
“I am, thank you Seamus.” Harry replied calmly. “It wouldn’t be the first time the Ministry’s resources had gotten something wrong. Humour me and try to work a few things on that Glass Viewer.”  
  
Seamus gave him a concerned look before turning back to the Malfoy’s orb and started muttering different incantations and watching the rerun again. “Come on, Draco.” Harry ordered, and the two left the Tracker Division.   
As they left, Harry saw Ron, Naomi and Emily Bates; a short, blond, freckle-faced Witch whom Ron was mentoring the same way Harry mentored Naomi.   
  
He called to them and Ron turned saying “What’s up?” Harry whispered so Draco couldn’t hear.   
  
“I think Lucius Malfoy has escaped house arrest, I'm going to the manor to see if it’s true because the Trackers say otherwise. I need you to alert the others to this, I’ll report back as soon as possible.” He then turned to Naomi and Emily. “You two with me, come on.”  
  
And the four of them left with Ron running off in a different direction.   
“Where exactly are we going?” Naomi asked.   
  
“Malfoy Manor.” Harry answered, his heart giving him an uncomfortable jolt as he did so.


	4. 3 - A Life for a Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fearing for what might have happened to Lucius, Harry investigates the Malfoy manor for clues of the disappearance.

**3- A Life for a Love**

  
Harry, Draco, Naomi and Emily all approached the large light grey manor house although as Draco went up to open the giant sized black doors, Harry pulled the other two back.  
  
“Now look, as you know the Malfoy’s are all former Death Eaters, they might be alright now but you must keep your guard up and your senses alert for anything that might seem out of place, understood?” The two Junior Aurors nodded just as Draco had opened the door.   


Narcissa Malfoy was half-way down the stairs when the four entered, her long golden hair tied up and her usually pale, lined skin, like her son’s, was tanned from her recent trip. “Mrs Malfoy.” Harry greeted with a half bow.   
  
“Potter.” She replied flatly as she eyed him. “So, what news do you bring of my husband?” Narcissa saw Harry and Draco catching each other’s eye and when she saw the two Aurors behind Harry, her expression changed to blank shock.   
  
“With all due respect, Mrs Malfoy, I’d like to search the house.”   
  
“But what are you-?” Narcissa started but when she caught her son’s eye, she clearly thought it best to change tact. “Where... where would you to start your search?”   
  
Harry turned to the other two. “Naomi, you check out the drawing room and the cellar downstairs, Emily you come with me upstairs.” The two Aurors obeyed and Naomi turned right into the drawing room. The same drawing room, Harry couldn’t help but think, where one of his best friends, Hermione, had been tortured by the Death Eater, Bellatrix Lestrange. At once, Harry snapped his mind away from the event. He had no time to stand about and reminisce.   
He and Emily followed Narcissa into the master bedroom. “Check the other rooms on this floor. Let me know if you find anything.” And Emily went off into the next room while Harry entered the bedroom.   
  
The entire room seemed surprisingly plain and clean with its lack of ornaments or personal touches to decorate the grey walls. After he had checked the wardrobe and the bedside tables, his wand tip alight after using various magical presence charms, he then turned his attention to the only other thing in the bedroom; the small Glass Viewer that they had been looking through back at the Ministry.   
  
After removing the protective charms that were placed around it, he picked up the glass orb and examined it closely. In the reflection, he saw himself with Narcissa in the background standing by the door and Lucius standing looking out of the window. Harry was sure that this was probably the view that Seamus could see at the other end.  
  
“Somehow,” Harry started. “This Glass Viewer has been Confunded.” He turned to Narcissa who was now looking scared. “How long ago did you go on holiday?” He asked.   
  
“We left eight days ago for Tibet and we got back this morning.” She stated stiffly.   
  
Emily walked back in accompanied by Astoria Malfoy; a tall witch with sheik black hair and a face as pale as her husband, holding a blond-haired baby.   
  
“I didn’t find anything out of place, sorry.” Emily said.   
  
“No need to apologise.” Harry said, indicating the glass orb in his hand.   
  
“Narcissa,” Astoria said in a high voice. “What’s going on?”   
  
“It’s Lucius,” Replied Narcissa. “He’s... he’s...” But before she could finish, she broke down and burst into tears cueing Astoria, with a baby in one arm, to put her other arm around the grieving woman.   
  
“What do you think's happened?” Emily whispered.   
  
“Either Lucius Malfoy has made a run for it, which considering the enemies he’s made I think is unlikely, or…”  
  
“He’s been taken.” Emily finished in a breathless tone. At that moment, Draco came running in.  
  
“Mother?” He said and he looked between his mum and Harry.   
  
“Draco, I'm so sorry but I fear all the signs are pointing to the fact that your father may have been kidnapped.” Draco’s eyes widened and, despite the tan, his face turned paler and he looked towards the small mass that was his mother, wife and son. “I’m sorry,” Harry said again while pulling, from inside the pouch that hung round his neck, the small mirror that once belonged to his God-Father. He put the mirror to his face and said “Ron Weasley.” Seconds later, Ron and the Auror Office replaced the reflection Harry and his background in the mirror.   
  
“Harry? Harry, what’s going on? Albert is going nuts down here!”   
  
“It’s Lucius. I suspect he’s been kidnapped.”   
  
“Damn it.” Ron muttered. “That was what we feared. Seamus had another look at the Glass Viewer again and he says he found something. Here I’ll put you on with him.” And Ron’s pointed and freckled face was then replaced with Seamus’ round and paunchy one.   
  
“Harry, I’ve been looking back on the recording and there’s a slight glitch about a week ago, it’s small but it’s there alright. I can’t believe I missed it. It happened about a day after the Malfoys’ left for their holiday, when Lucius looks sharply at the door then a second later he’s turning for the window. I think I’m safe in saying that the-”   
  
“The Glass Viewer has been Confunded, yeah, I gathered.” After that Seamus' apologetic face was then replaced with Ron.   
  
“Harry, Albert has told me that you are to return with the rest of the Malfoys’ ASAP.”   
  
“Right, understood.” Harry turned to Emily and the huddling family. “We’re leaving for Ministry. Now!” He ordered and they all rushed down the stairs, all wands drawn. “Naomi!” Harry bellowed and she came running in, her own wand at the ready.   
  
“What is it?”   
  
“The master bedroom Glass Viewer's been Confunded. We think Lucius has been kidnapped so we’re leaving for the Ministry now.” And Draco, Emily, Naomi and Astoria, the baby Malfoy still in arms, rushed outside and as Harry got outside he felt Narcissa hold him back with a bony hand.   
  
“Harry Potter,” She said, tears still in her eyes. “I want you… I want you to promise me something.” Harry stared at her. Although he had never liked the Malfoy’s even after they defected and helped the hunt of Voldemort’s old supporters, he couldn’t help but feel for the old grieving woman before him. “I want you to promise me that you won’t give up on this case; that the office won’t see him as some sort of… low priority because of the past.” Harry was about to reply when she continued “Promise me you’ll find my husband, please.” A sudden reaction in the pit of his throat, that was not his own, made him speak words he did not even think to say in an almost robotic tone as a dull pang of pain started at the top of his head.   
  
“I will find your husband, Narcissa.” Narcissa seem to have ignored the slight shock on Harry’s face at what he’d just said and mouthed “Thank you.”   
  
Naomi held back as the others moved on allowing her to corner Harry. “I heard that. How can you promise a thing like that? You know you could just giving her false hope.”   
Harry had a distinct feeling he knew exactly what had happened. He had once seen the very same kind of involuntary act that he had just experienced when a Wizard whose life Harry had once saved had been forced to stand down from fighting on Harry’s orders and he explained to Naomi the bond between two Wizards when one of them saves the life of the other. That the would-be victim is then in the debt of his or her saviour, for Harry was indebted to Narcissa in the very same way after what happened nine years ago.  
  
“But… Harry, if you’re indebted to Mrs Malfoy, doesn’t that mean you’re-”  
  
“No Naomi, I’m not compromised.” Harry answered quietly. “It was a one-time thing, okay? I’ve made my promise, now I just need to keep it.”   
  
“Or?” Naomi pressed, her eyes narrowing.  
  
“Or we risk Lucius Malfoy dying at the hands of whoever took him.”


	5. 4 - A List of the Damned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A disappointing and frustrating day leaves Harry back at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.

** 4- A list of the Damned **

 

 

 

When Harry and his accomplices had returned to the Ministry, Harry found the entire Auror Office in complete disarray. Pages of parchment flew in and out of the office as though they were racing; Aurors all around were conversing with one another some with thick black files open in their arms in order to point out some possible clue. 

“Excuse me, Mrs Malfoy,” Said Dawlish, the politeness clearly forced. “Would you mind coming with me for questioning?” Narcissa followed Dawlish though not without a reproachful glance to Harry and her family. As Dawlish led her down the corridor of Interrogation rooms, Ron approached them.   
  
“Dawlish and Kaman want to question each of you individually.” He said to the remaining Malfoys. “Don’t worry, we’re doing everything we can to track down your father.” For a slight second Draco looked as though he was going to say something but either thought better of what he might say or just simply didn’t have the strength. “Emily, would you take Mr and...” Ron looked at Astoria and the baby “...Mrs Malfoy down to their own rooms?”   
  
The Malfoy couple followed Ron’s young protégé down to the same corridor Narcissa had been escorted down and Harry had a feeling that they were going against their better judgement.   
“Harry,” Ron said, handing over the two sheets of parchment he was holding. “We’ve been going through what few Death Eaters aren’t dead or captured and crossed them with the Death Eaters we think might want to get at Malfoy most and I think we might be on to something with these two.” Pointing at the two sheets Ron showed Harry Rabastan Lestrange and Preston Crabbe staring up at him. “I mean when you think about the Lestrange’s family-ties with the Malfoys, there’s definitely going to be some bad blood and the fact he is one of the last active Death Eaters still at large. Well, apart from Selwyn of course but I can’t see someone like Selwyn being able to pull something like this off or at least not on his own. And as for Crabbe... well, it is thanks to Lucius we found out the Crabbe’s hideout and ended up duelling and killing his wife.”   
  
Harry felt a pang of both hatred and a slight amount of guilt as he looked at the pictures, for just over a month ago the Auror Office had tracked down Rabastan Lestrange and his fellow Death Eater, Araban Jugson, after they had tried to use an illegal Portkey at the White Cliffs of Dover in an attempt to flee the country. During the struggle, Jugson, who had been duelling both Naomi and Dawlish at the time, was disarmed and, rather than risk capture and life in Azkaban, jumped the cliff. Whereas Rabastan, after stunning Harry’s fellow Auror, Terry Boot, had made a run for it and it was Harry who had given chase. Desperate to catch him, Harry had even resorted to the Sectumsempra curse, but Rabastan had left the Anti-Disapparition zone the Aurors’ had set up and vanished. Harry was sure, however, that his deep-slashing curse had just hit its target.   
  
The rest of the day was, like the past few weeks, a nightmare and it wasn’t helped by yet another meeting with an angrier version of Terry Hetlim who had somehow found out about the kidnap and demanded yet even more protection for the Quidditch finals tomorrow.   
  
After an hour and a half of persuading Hetlim that they would in fact have more protection; a fact that both Naomi and Emily seemed unnaturally cheerful about as they finally had their first stadium patrol, and Harry even promising that he himself would be on stadium patrol, the Head of Magical Games and Sports finally left satisfied. Then there was three hours of trying to track down what very few Death Eaters were left, which had proved no easier than any other time they did it, and other people who might be suspicious for the kidnap of Lucius Malfoy. This was shortly followed by an extra hour of finding a safe house for the rest of the Malfoys to reside in while the Manor went under Ministry control, searched thoroughly for any more clues and House Elf’s taken in for questioning.   
  
Harry was exhausted. After making sure with Kaman that their work was in fact done for the day and promising they’d be in early tomorrow, he and Ron left for their homes.   
  
Although both Harry and Ron were authorised as Ministry workers to use the Floo Network to travel to the Ministry, thanks to the Ministry’s safety regulations, neither of them were of high enough rank to use the Network to travel from the Ministry. That particular permission was for the Heads of Departments and Offices and the Minister of Magic to use. So they found the usual Muggle-free back ally, said goodbye to each other and Harry Disapparated to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.   
  
Harry entered his house and was instantly welcomed with the smell of home cooking. “Hello?” Harry said wearily to the house in general.  
  
“Harry.” Called a familiar voice and when Harry walked into the lounge, he saw his mother and father-in laws, Molly and Arthur Weasley, each of whom were holding a different son of Harry’s.  
  
But before Harry could even greet his in laws, there was a loud cry of “HARRY!” and Harry’s God-Son, Teddy Lupin, ran in and hugged him round the waist.   
  
“Teddy!” Harry said as he took back in the air that had been knocked from him. “I didn’t recognise you... again” He added, looking at the young boys’ dark green hair, laughing.   
  
Shortly following his God-Son, Andromeda Tonks, Teddys’ grandmother, walked in. “Dromeda?” Harry said to the tall, pale, brown haired old women that approached him, relieving his God-Son from the hug.   
  
“Your wife invited me, I hope you don’t mind?” She said in a soft voice as she kissed Harry on the cheek.   
  
“Mind? The more, the merrier I say.” Harry replied brightly as he returned the favour.   
  
“Well dinner’s nearly ready so I think you best come and sit at the table.” Andromeda announced. So Arthur and Molly put James and Albus back in their cribs and the entire room left the lounge and each took their place at the table, Arthur sitting directly opposite Harry.   
  
“So Harry,” Arthur said, a small amount of eagerness in his voice. “How are things down in the Auror Office?” Harrys’ heart sank. The thought of enjoying a family dinner had temporarily removed the Malfoys’ from his mind.  
  
“Not all too well if I'm honest, Arthur.”   
  
“Why? What’s happened?” Arthur asked as plates of food flew in from the kitchen and onto the table in front of Ginny.   
  
“Help yourselves and tuck in.” She said and as she sat down, Harry began to explain about Lucius Malfoy’s kidnap.   
  
“And what if it wasn’t kidnap?” Arthur asked suspiciously, waving the same fork full of potato he had been holding throughout Harry’s story.   
  
“Well, we’re fairly certain it was kidnap. I mean I can’t think why he’d want to escape after everything he’s done for the Ministry and the enemies he’s made in the process. It was Lucius who insisted on such a high amount of Ministry protection in the first place.”   
  
“Have you got any ideas on who...?” Arthur asked, though Harry suspected he knew who he was referring to.   
  
“Well there’s only about four Death Eaters left unaccounted for.” And Harry began listing them, as he had been doing nearly all day. “Thorfinn Rowle; whom we haven’t seen hide nor hair of since the Battle of Hogwarts. Preston Crabbe; who we can see wanting to commit something like this after the death of his wife and son, as he was someone who considered Lucius a family friend. Then there’s Rabastan Lestrange; who Ron suspects because of _family ties_ with the Malfoys’ and then there’s Edmund Selwyn; who despite being seen up and down the country for the past eighteen months we still can’t seem to capture.”  
  
Harry thought to the last time Selwyn was spotted and by the time the Aurors got to the Welsh village where he had been seen, they discovered the local wand maker, Aberthol Evens, dead in his shop and his apprentice missing and presumed dead.  
  
Silence fell on to the table until broken by Molly. “Well then... shall we talk about something other than... uh... work?”   
  
Although Harry felt slightly relieved to change the topic, that same dull pang at the top of his head that had attacked him during his promise to Narcissa made him feel strange, as though he wanted to continue their discussion on the case despite himself.   
  
“So, Ginny,” Andromeda started. “How many points are you planning on beating the Chudleys’ by this time?” And as Ginny smiled the entire atmosphere of the dining room changed.   
  
“Are you going to use your new broom?” Asked Teddy, who had remained quiet as he normally did when listening to Harry talk about his Auror work.   
  
“You know what?” Said Ginny smiling at Teddy “I think I might as well. I mean I don’t want to beat them too badly, but I think it would be good for a laugh.” Teddy laughed and his excitement about tomorrows match doubled as both Ginny and Harry now owned Teddy’s two most favourite brooms: Ginny’s Firebolt Mark II; which she had bought after the death of her wealthy Auntie Muriel, who had ended up only mentioning Ginny and Molly in her will, and Harry’s Nimbus Twenty-Twenty; a birthday present from the teachers of Hogwarts leaving Harry with a sneaky suspicion on which teacher might of come up with the idea.  
  
“You alright dear?” Molly Weasley asked quietly and consolingly to Harry who had been rubbing his forehead in an attempt to alleviate the sudden pain.  
  
“Yes, yes, thank you.” Harry said with a forced smile. “Just… work.”  
  
With the nine year old’s excitement about the next day’s match becoming infectious, the rest of the meal continued with laughter and banter about the event until, nearly two hours later, Andromeda finally said “Well thank you for the invite to that lovely meal Ginny.”   
  
“It was no problem, it’s the least we can do for you for looking after the kids tomorrow.”   
  
Andromeda smiled, looked at Teddy, and said “Well, I think we should be going, I need to get this one to bed.” Teddy looked up, clearly struggling to keep his eyes open though Harry was sure that Teddy gave his Nan the same look as his mother, Tonks, did to anyone who called her Nymphadora.   
  
“But Nan!”   
  
“No buts, Teddy.”  
  
“Why don’t you both stay over?” Suggested Harry and Ginny nodded with agreement. “It saves you the trip back over here tomorrow.”   
  
Teddy turned to his grandmother with a new found energy and said “Can we Nan? Please!”   
  
“Well I suppose if it’s no trouble with you two.”   
  
“No trouble what so ever. Kreacher!” Ginny beckoned and Kreacher Apparated in a bowing position before her.   
  
“Yes, Mistress.”   
  
“Could you sort out Teddy’s room and the spare room for Andromeda?” And, with a low bow and a smile, the House Elf Disapparated upstairs.   
  
“When it’s ready,” Andromeda whispered to Harry. “Do you think you could help me getting him up? Otherwise he’ll just be a nightmare tomorrow.”  
  
Kreacher arrived two minutes later and announced that the beds were ready cueing Harry to walk up a begrudging Teddy to his room. After a wash and changing into a spare change of pyjamas, Teddy placed himself comfortably in Harry’s God-father’s old bed; both teenage versions of Teddy and Harry’s fathers grinning down at them from an old picture along with a tousle-haired Sirius Black and a the rounded Peter Pettigrew.   
  
“Harry, are you going to kill the Death Eaters when you find them?” Harry was a little taken aback by this. Harry knew Teddy had always been fascinated with his work to the point of Harry even occasionally sneaking him into the office to Albert’s amusement and to Andromeda’s unawareness.   
  
“If I’m forced to.” Harry answered tentatively.   
  
“Harry,” Teddy said again as Harry tucked him in. “Have you ever killed a Death Eater?”   
  
“No, I haven’t.” Harry said calmly. “It’s my job to bring them in and make sure they can’t any more bad things. Not to go out and kill them.”   
  
But before Harry could try and end the conversation, Teddy continued “But if you killed them then they couldn’t do any more bad things.”   
  
Harry gave a small smile and said “True, but killing isn’t as easy you think, Teddy.” Teddy gave Harry an inquisitive look and Harry continued “You’ll understand one day, trust me.” Before ruffling his hair and turning off his bedroom light. 

Still visible to Harry though was the picture of the four teenage boys above the bed but for the first time, Harry found that his eye was not drawn to his God-Father nor Teddy’s father or even his own, but instead the plump, mousy boy that was the odd one out next to the trio of cool, handsome young men.

_Is this how you felt, Peter?_ Harry found himself thinking. _When I reminded you of the day I stood down two of those boys you’re with now from killing you._ Harry remembered how Peter’s body had betrayed him. How he had released Ron and Harry from the physical struggle he had them under against his will and had ended up paying a terrible price for it.

“Harry, are you okay?” Teddy asked, noticing Harry’s frozen stare at the photo. “Is something wrong with the picture?”

“No Teddy,” Harry replied calmly, though his heart was thundering. “Nothing’s wrong at all.”  
  
Harry came back down just in time to see Ginny clearing away the table with a wave of her wand. “You really need to teach me how to do that.” Andromeda said as the plates marched themselves into the kitchen and into the sink.   
  
“Mum’s the one you should be asking, not me. She’s the expert.”   
  
Molly smiled and said “Well when you’ve practiced as much as I have, it ends up becoming second nature.” And a full-blown conversation about handy household charms ignited and just when it looked like Arthur would fall asleep where he sat, Harry’s in-laws said their goodbyes, went for the door and with a final “...and we’ll see you for drinks after the match tomorrow.” The two Weasley’s Disapparated.   
  
Not long after, Andromeda claimed she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer and she went upstairs to the spare room leaving Harry and Ginny alone with Albus and James.

“This whole Malfoy business is really getting to you, isn’t it?” She asked as she poured the remainder of a wine bottle into Harry’s glass.

“Shouldn’t it?” Harry replied. “I may not like any of them, Lucius least of all but the man’s still missing.”

“I’ve seen you deal with dozens of missing persons cases,” Ginny said. “But this has had you stuck in your own head all night.”

“It’s just… It’s just something Narcissa said, that’s all.”

“What did she say?” Ginny asked.

Harry turned to look at his wife. The words explaining the Life-Debt he was in had just reached Harry’s throat when something he had told Naomi played in his mind. He wasn’t compromised. He couldn’t be compromised at any cost.

“She said to not allow the Office to see Lucius as some form of low priority.” Harry said. “I mean, I know we’re not perfect but we’re definitely better than that.” 

“Oh, come on.” Ginny said with a half laugh. “You can’t take that seriously coming from Narcissa especially after what’s happened. You know no one in the Office would do something like that.”

“Yeah, I know…” Harry trailed off.

“I’m telling you, you don’t see just how much you, Ron and Albert have transformed that department the past few years.” She then looked at the two sleeping children in the cribs. “Carry on as you are and you’ll be spoiling those two.” The pair snorted win silent laughter  but Harry couldn’t help but feel a small pang of guilt at the silence of his true fears as the couple headed upstairs to bed.


End file.
